Monday, February 1, 2016

Of hugs and humanity

Gabriela Andreevska was one of the most
talked about people in the latter part of 2015 – what with her untiring efforts
for refugees who arrived at the Republic of Macedonia. Every day, thousands of
people arrived from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and other places to
Gevgelija, on the border of Greece, at the Republic of Macedonia. Their lack of
knowledge of what they needed to do, and the dangers they were escaping tugged
at heartstrings world over. Gabriela was one of the people who responded to
their immediate needs as they landed up seeking peaceful futures. Gabriela
shares her story with us as a social activist.

I am
a social activist and have been involved in social activism in one way or the
other in the place that I was born and raised – which is the Republic of
Macedonia. The response to refugees and their needs, was, of course, a
humanitarian action, but I see it as a part of my social and political
activism. The deliberate need to effect change in the social and political
landscape that has resulted in the creation of so many refugees is what
motivated me to get involved. I have a degree in conference interpreting, and I
do a lot of NGO-related work. My current job entails doing a lot of outreach
work and social activism, and I am currently involved in doing a sustainability
project to empower youth workers, i.e., people who work with the youth. I help
empower these youth workers to further empower the youth they work with, to
lead sustainable lifestyles as regards the economy, the ecology and social
lives.

When
the refugees started coming in, I started to get familiar
with what was happening. Refugees crossed over to the city I live in, in huge
numbers. Transportation of refugees who were on our territory, at first, was
illegal. They used to stay in my area for days, and walk about 170 kilometres
on foot. Having them camp in the railway stations and sleep on the concrete
streets and roads was not something I could be indifferent to. One cannot turn
a blind eye to them.

It
started out as a response to a humanitarian need. There was an immediate need
for food, water and clothing. These people were walking on foot and were
literally sleeping on the streets every night. It was impossible for me to be
indifferent. The international community was ignoring them, and our capital
city at the Republic of Macedonia was not directly affected in any way, so it
didn’t elicit a national response. When the government did not respond, it was
but natural to have a civilian response. I see it as an incredible social
movement. From a country subjected to innumerable visa regimes, and a country
that is not part of the industrially developed world, I saw the refugee issue
as being a joint struggle for freedom of movement, for justice, and for the
greater cause of humanity.

My
immediate challenge was that there was no law for refugees to cover these
people.

They were not there as asylum seekers because they were not seeking to
settle down in the Republic of Macedonia – they were here only out of a need to
transit. They did not want to stay in the republic, and so, they were seen as
illegal migrants. Dealing with them was challenging as the police did not
tolerate their presence and our aim of helping them. There was a point where we
hid behind railway tracks in order to give them water. There were plenty of
police restraints. If you are not part of an NGO, you cannot provide for these
people or help or interact with them. So, we took help from an organisation and
wore their badges although we were not their members or working on their
behalf. A lot of bureaucracy unfolded. The government claimed that it was all
necessary to protect the refugees themselves, but really, it is a way to control
their entry. People-to-people solidarity was restricted right from the
beginning. Now, of course, the law allows them to use public transport, but it
has always been a struggle for them to cross the border. Those that had
wheelchairs sometimes got stuck in the mud.

What
started off as a civic initiative slowly grew. Now, there are no refugees in my
city. So, I travel to the border camp and help people – we help different
organisations that are at work. We provide the refugees with food, water,
hygiene products and clothes. There is a lot of information sharing as well. We
tell them where they are, where they should be, what places they should avoid,
what places have a possible tryst with smugglers, and what dangers they should
avoid. We also make it a point to monitor human rights abuses and share
information with activists and refugees. Seeing the nature of what they’ve
faced in the course of their journey, we also give them hugs.

There
are a lot of beautiful and powerful memories from my journey so far. Recently,
I wrote a piece on the plight of female refugees. The media focuses very little
on them. They focus on the narratives of young able-bodied men who come into
Europe, but the truth is, about 40% of the total number of refugees who come
comprise women and children. There are so many women who have either lost their
husbands, or whose husbands are already in the EU, who make the journey by
themselves with their children. It was sad, but also inspiring to see such
strong women with their kids in tow, walking on the highway. Nobody quits. They
just keep going! I’ve never seen such determination around.

Going
forward, I think it is important, no matter where you are in the world, to
really make the effort to get involved in political activism.

The international
solidarity movement is gaining strength. I am part of a connected group of
activists across Europe. It is called Solidarity
Beyond Borders, and demands and seeks the correct treatment of refugees. It
is definitely necessary to do as much humanitarian work as you can, but you
shouldn’t stop with it, because stopping with that means that things won’t
change. I am grateful for the support, but it is important that we all indulge
in political activism and demand structural changes, and that we ourselves make
sure to change our habits and systems that we live in, that created the
refugees in the first place. That alone will make a lasting change.